the rain will see me off

Guess what it's doing outside? Pouring. Grey, chilly, very wet. The poor kids - there were many thousands this afternoon celebrating 4/20 just down the street from Bruce's place. He and I walked there, through the very smokey air, the hundreds of little booths selling kush, cookies, brownies, paraphernalia ... and munchies. How times have changed. But then came the rain, and of course, most of those kids have no umbrellas. A lot of wet puppies.

So I'm glad to leave Vancouver as it was when I came 30 days ago. In between, a few days of heavenly sun. But let's not forget, there's a lot of this here.

Bruce and I have lunched and dined, and now he's off seeing his nephew and my friend Angus play the piano, as Bruce used to, as an accompanist for a difficult Strauss opera. I am having a quiet night in, listening to the rain.

It has been wonderful. Usually I'm returning around now from Europe - Paris, the south of France, maybe Italy with Bruce. Instead, the gorgeous wet west coast of Canada, where I bathed in the forest, got a lot of work done in the peaceful sweet air, and spent time with a number of great friends. Grateful for it all.

Grateful for home tomorrow. And they say the snow may have nearly melted.